LEIGH BENNETT
5 YEAR Breast Cancer Survivor
Leigh Bennett was born in South Africa. Her passion for art and movement is rooted in her childhood and her professional career. Her British mother was a ballerina in Cape Town and also operated 3 dance studios. It is no surprise then that Leigh followed in her mother's footsteps!
"I guess I was dancing the moment I was born."
As a child growing up in South Africa during the 1950’s, Leigh did not have all the man-made gadgets and toys that we do today. However, she had an unlimited supply of creative materials provided by nature. She was always using her imagination and creating art with whatever she could get her hands on – sticks, rocks, and flowers of all shapes and sizes. She was drawn to art as it was an activity where she could express herself, detach from childhood challenges, and feel good about her unique talents.
At age 16 Leigh got a scholarship to attend England's famous Royal Ballet School. Upon graduating she entered the company. After a couple of years, she was offered a soloist position with the world-renowned Stuttgart Ballet Company in Stuttgart Germany. Incredible travel and amazing choreographers were her life for 10 years.
Upon retiring Leigh moved to Toronto, Canada where she was offered an incredible teaching position with the prestigious National Ballet School in Toronto. She also helped with rehearsals for the company and guest choreographers for Canada’s leading ballet company, The National Ballet of Canada.
She was arranging choreography, music, and costumes to create a complete ballet performance, and today she uses color, beads, plastic bottles, textiles, and other found objects to make her art.
Her artistic journey has had many phases. She started out by making paper maché jewelry that once painted, looked like agate, jasper, and other semi-precious stones. She then went to a wonderful workshop in Tucson, Arizona, and got bitten by the bead bug and decided to open a store where she carried millions of beads, pearls, and precious stones. Leigh’s favorite times were doing commission pieces for brides and their extended parties. She would sometimes have to include the mother's and grandmother’s pieces of jewelry into a headdress or necklace; giving her a real glimpse into the bride’s history and bringing it into current times.
Her newest creative pieces, often sculpture in form, are made from recycled plastics and textiles. She tries to do her little part to reduce the plastic pollution problem by taking water bottles, food containers, and clamshells and turning them into one-of-a-kind pieces of art. In addition to plastics, Leigh has been diving into the world of textiles after visiting a local craft store and seeing the most wonderful collection of yarns and natural wools. She walked out of that store and immediately started working on large looms, which she makes herself, and coiled baskets. Her finished pieces are always very textural, colorful, and wonderful to the touch!
It is no surprise that her early career as a ballet dancer and teacher led her to the beautiful practice of Yoga. She has been studying both regular Yoga and Chair Yoga for several decades, and she loves what it does for her mind, body, and soul. Following a desire to share the benefits with others, Leigh became a Certified Chair Yoga instructor in 2020 and now gets to help others stretch and strengthen their minds and bodies through a gentler form of Yoga that people of all ages and physical abilities can enjoy! Leigh still keeps moving by taking NIA classes and ballroom dancing.
She loves creating and teaching in ways that resonate with the soul. She would have to say that her work and teaching are spontaneous with lots of color and lots of movement. Leigh loves this approach as it is experimental and emotionally freeing, and she never quite knows how one will turn out. “I still have dancing in my blood and combinations in my head!"
